Eric Carter series
Eric Carter series aka City of the Lost — by Stephen Blackmoore. This series is companion to and sequel to the City of the Lost (Stand Alone). Genres and Sub-Genres Urban Fantasy / Horror edge Series Description or Overview NOTE: This series is listed as City of the Lost series at Fantastic Fiction and list all three books in the series. At Goodreads, it is entitled Eric Carter series and only lists books #2 and #3 in the series. City of the Lost features a different protagonist: Joe Sunday, from the Eric Carter series. At other sites, City of the Lost is listed as a Stand Alone, so a seperate page will be made for that book alone. The author's site does not clear this up. ✤ Eric Carter series: (BLURB) Necromancer is such an ugly word, but it's a title Eric Carter is stuck with. He sees ghosts, talks to the dead. He's turned it into a lucrative career putting troublesome spirits to rest, sometimes taking on even more dangerous things. For a fee, of course. When he left LA fifteen years ago, he thought he'd never go back. Too many bad memories. Too many people trying to kill him. But now his sister's been brutally murdered and Carter wants to find out why. Was it the gangster looking to settle a score? The ghost of a mage he killed the night he left town? Maybe it's the patrion saint of violent death herself, Santa Muerte, who's taken an unusually keen interest in him. Carter's going to find out who did it, and he's going to make them pay. As long as they don't kill him first. ~ Goodreads | Dead Things (Eric Carter #1) Lead's Species * Necromancer, ghost seer, supe-assassin Primary Supe * Mages, ghosts, zombies What Sets it Apart * Narrative Type and Narrators * First person narrative told by Eric Carter, protagonist. Books in Series Eric Carter series: # Dead Things (Feb 2013) ~ Excerpt # Broken Souls (Aug 15, 2014) ~ BROKEN SOULS # Hungry Ghosts (2017) # Fire Season (2019) # Ghost Money (April 28th 2020 by DAW) Shorts, Anthologies and Guides ~Free Fiction from Author: Free Fiction « stephenblackmoore.com Companion Series or Books—Prequels, Sequels or Spinoffs * 0. City of the Lost (2012) ~ City of the Lost: Excerpt by Stephen Blackmoore Other Books by Author * City of the Lost (2012) Themes World Building Setting Los Angeles Supernatural Elements ✥ Necromancers, mages, spirits, voodoo loas, zombies, ghosts, magic tattoos, mage mob boss, fire elemental, Haunts, Glossary: * Ghosts: Those who are earth-bound have died a traumatic death—all of them are hungry for the life-force of humans ** Haunts: are tethered to their place of death ** Wanderers: can move from place to place * Eric's Tattoos: much of his magic in the form of full-body tattoos—Symbols in dead languages to help ward off threats and help him focus his magic 'Groups & Organizations': * World ✥ In this dark and gritty alternate version of Los Angeles, mages, spirits, and voodoo loas intermingle with the unknowing human populace. The hero is Eric Carter, a necromancer who attracts ghosts: "Ghosts come to me like moths to a flame. I can see them and they can see me. They hover like groupies....If I really wanted to get rid of the ghosts I'd nail a dead cat to the windows, but that's always struck me as a bit extreme." (p. 12) Eric calls up various ghosts—including eye witnesses and even murder victims—to ask them pertinent questions about the crimes he investigates. In this world, ghosts who are earth-bound have died a traumatic death. Some are Wanderers, who can move from place to place, and some are Haunts, who, but all of them are hungry for the life-force of humans. Eric has spent much of his life bringing justice to the dead: "When they're dead and there's no one to speak for them, no one to collect on the debt their killers owe: that's where I come in. The Dead have already paid for their sins. The living, not so much." (p. 211) Protagonist ✥ Eric Carter carries much of his magic in the form of full-body tattoos: "I'm tattooed over most of my body. Neck to wrists to ankles. Wards and sigils. Symbols in dead languages to help ward off threat, divert attention, help me focus my magic." (p. 13) Eric fled from L.A. fifteen years ago after killing Jean Boudreau, the powerful mage mob boss who sent a fire elemental to murder his parents. After Eric got his revenge on Boudreau, the mob gave him a simple choice: either leave L.A. for good, or be responsible for the deaths of himself and his sister, Lucy. Eric chose to leave his sister behind (in promised safety) and to make a new life for himself—far away from L.A. Since then, he has developed stronger and stronger magical powers and has become an assassin for hire in the supernatural world. Even though he limits his killing to bad humans and evil supernaturals, his death-filled life has taken a toll on his soul. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction: Stephen Blackmoore: "Dead Things" Book Cover Blurbs ✤ BOOK ONE—Dead Things (2013): Necromancer is such an ugly word, but it's a title Eric Carter is stuck with. He sees ghosts, talks to the dead. He's turned it into a lucrative career putting troublesome spirits to rest, sometimes taking on even more dangerous things. For a fee, of course. When he left LA fifteen years ago, he thought he'd never go back. Too many bad memories. Too many people trying to kill him. But now his sister's been brutally murdered and Carter wants to find out why. Was it the gangster looking to settle a score? The ghost of a mage he killed the night he left town? Maybe it's the patrion saint of violent death herself, Santa Muerte, who's taken an unusually keen interest in him. Carter's going to find out who did it, and he's going to make them pay. As long as they don't kill him first. ~ Goodreads | Dead Things (Eric Carter #1) ✤ BOOK TWO—Broken Souls ('''August 5th 2014 by DAW): When necromancer Eric Carter returned to Los Angeles after fifteen years on the run he knew things were bad, but he never imagined how bad they could get. Sister murdered, best friend dead, married to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte. And things are just getting worse. His link to the Aztec death goddess is changing his powers, changing him, and he’s not sure how far it will go. He’s starting to question his own sanity, wonder if he’s losing his mind. No mean feat for a guy who talks to the dead on a regular basis. While searching for a way to break Santa Muerte’s hold over him, Carter finds himself the target of a psychopath who can steal anyone’s form, powers and memories. Identity theft is one thing, but the guy does it by killing his victims and wearing their skins like a suit. He can be anyone. He can be anywhere. Now Carter has to change the game, go from hunted to hunter. All he has for help is a Skid Row Bruja and a ghost who’s either his dead friend Alex or Carter’s own guilt-fueled psychotic break. If things go right, he just might survive a week where everything is trying to kill him and nothing is as it seems. ~ Goodreads | Broken Souls (Eric Carter, #2) by Stephen Blackmoore ✤ '''BOOK THREE: Hungry Ghosts (February 7th 2017 by Daw Books) Necromancer Eric Carter's problems keep getting bigger. Bad enough he's the unwilling husband to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte, but now her ex, the Aztec King of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli, has come back -- and it turns out that Carter and he are swapping places. As Mictlantecuhtli breaks loose of his prison of jade, Carter is slowly turning to stone. To make matters worse, both gods are trying to get Carter to assassinate the other. But only one of them can be telling him the truth and he can't trust either one. Carter's solution? Kill them both. If he wants to get out of this situation with his soul intact, he'll have to go to Mictlan, the Aztec land of the dead, and take down a couple of death gods while facing down the worst trials the place has to offer him: his own sins. ✤ BOOK FOUR: Fire Season '''(April 16th 2019 by Daw Books) '''The fourth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts. Los Angeles is burning. During one of the hottest summers the city has ever seen, someone is murdering mages with fires that burn when they shouldn't, that don't stop when they should. Necromancer Eric Carter is being framed for the killings and hunted by his own people. To Carter, everything points to the god Quetzalcoatl coming after him, after he defied the mad wind god in the Aztec land of the dead. But too many things aren't adding up, and Carter knows there's more going on. If he doesn't figure out what it is and put a stop to it fast, Quetzalcoatl won't just kill him, he'll burn the whole damn city down with him. ✤ BOOK FIVE: Ghost Money '''(April 28th 2020 by DAW) - '''The fifth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts. The Los Angeles Firestorm killed over a hundred thousand people, set in revenge against necromancer Eric Carter for defying the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. Carter feels every drop of that blood on his hands. But now there's a new problem. Too many ghosts in one spot and the barrier separating them from the living cracks. And when they cross it, they feed off all the life they can get hold of. People die. L.A. suddenly has a lot more ghosts. But it's not just one or two ghosts breaking through: it's dozens. Another mage is pulling them through the cracks and turning them into deadly weapons. Eric follows a trail that takes him through the world of the Chinese Triads, old associates, old crimes. And a past that he thought he was done with. Carter needs to find out how to get things under control, because if more ghosts break through, there's going to be even more blood on his hands. Category:Series